so Joel Serman (Commercial Manager at Fair Cape) left a comment on the previous post. since this theme won’t let me show comments (you have to click the permalink or the comments link to see them) and i didn’t want it to get lost, i thought i would post it up here for all to see:

Hi Aspirantlocavore

Thank you for your very measured and balanced report on our Fair cape Free Range Facility.

In response to 2 of the questions asked, I would like to offer the following:

1) There is absolutely no local or international [I think he meant to say "certification"] on Free Range as relates to cows. As mentioned, this does leave the door wide open to abuse by unscrupulous operators who simply slap a Free Range sticker onto a product with no fear of reprisal.

To ensure that we were always accountable, we decided to not call our milk just “Free Range”, but rather to call it “Fair Cape Free Range” ie Fair Cape’s Take on Free Range. The second step was to disclose exactly what makes something “Fair Cape Free Range” on all our packaging and communication to ensure that the consumers themselves are able to see transpaerntly what we do and decide for themselves. So far the response has been brilliant. I will attach below the copy from our milk bottles which shows the criteria for Fair Cape Free Range:

Why our cows are happy, healthy “Fair Cape Free Range”™ cows:

• They live in super comfort in spacious surroundings
• They can choose between basking in the sun or lazing in the shade
• They eat only natural feeds, with no animal by-products
• No artificial hormones added
• They receive daily health check ups and medical care is always available

At Fair Cape, we’re serious about keeping the environment in tip top shape We care about nature. Our milk is produced in an environmentally friendly manner. We recycle, have measures in place to prevent any harm to natural systems, and we re-use our cleaning water after filtration. What’s more, methane gas emissions (a by-product of production) will in the future be put to good use at Fair Cape: to generate eco friendly electricity, thereby helping to curb ozone damaging CO2 in the atmosphere.

2) To answer the second question, no, there is absolutely no rBST or any other hormone used in the production of the milk

Joel Serman

Commercial Manager Fair Cape

i think it’s great to see the producers picking up this blog and being willing to engage with bloggers and readers… nice work Fair Cape! i was planning a separate post on the biogas front. i asked sonja while i was there if the cow dung was used to produce biogas at all. she said there were plans to do that. i asked because, while i was in india earlier this year, i saw many farmers who use their cow dung and urine to produce biogas. most use the gas for cooking in their homes, but one enterprising farmer was using the biogas to generate electricity for his home. and these aren’t large commercial farmers, these are the small guys. self-sufficiency man. really cool.(see photo below!)

the other reason i asked is because i am aware that cows produce methane, a greenhouse gas which contributes to global warming, and which is TWENTY-THREE TIMES more damaging than carbon dioxide!! they release this gas when they burp and when they fart, but it is also released when their dung is allowed to ferment (as it does now at Fair Cape – it is pumped into a settling pond before the water is reused to wash the dairy floor). there are certain studies underway to try and find additives which can be added to cow’s feed which will make them less gassy (but some of these involve genetic engineering, which may not be safe in the long run). there is also always the opportunity for farmers like Fair Cape to qualify for carbon credits for a project like this (where a company or country which wants to offset its emissions can do so through sponsoring a project in the developing world which is reducing or avoiding emissions). however, they could just use their methane to power their dairy – or, if eskom ever gets with the times, Fair Cape could make some extra cash by selling their electricty back to the grid. (to find out more about cows and methane emissions, see this article from the Chicago Tribune)

the photograph below shows mr phutane next to his biogas digester. the dung and urine from his cowshed drains into the large tank underneath this water, as it breaks down, the methane gas escapes upwards and is piped into the house to use for cooking and also to be converted into electricity. cows are sacred to hindus and most of the farmers we met there are vegetarian. but cows are super useful. aside from using their dung and urine for cooking gas or electricity, most of the farmers use the dung, urine and jaggery (apparently like molasses) as fertiliser for their farms. it is all mixed together in pits, allowed to ferment for a while and then applied to the crops.

mr phutane next to his biogas digester and cowshed